The Rebel Diaz video for “Soy Rebelde”. Their presentation on Thursday is named after this track. The sampled refrain is taken from Jeanette’s “Soy Rebelde”. The sampled lines–“Soy Rebelde, porque el mundo me hecho asi”–translate to “I’m a Rebel, because the world has made me so.”

“Craazy” deals with how rebels may are labeled as crazy as a way of dismissing their criticism. “American Spring” draws a link between the Arab Spring and the political agenda of the Occupy Movement. “Work like Chavez” pays tribute to the recently-deceased Venezuelan president. The intro incorporates a sample from Ali Primera, the legendary Venezuelan musician and activist. Why would a Bronx-based group have a special interest in paying tribute to the controversial South American leader?

Rebel Diaz: The Presentation

Here are some questions it might be interesting to ask the members of RDAC. Also, you should come up with some questions of your own based on the above info and links.

How do you negotiate the opposing ideals of community empowerment and competitive individualism in hip hop—the latter as seen in the one-on-one battle tradition and the popular notion that “the world is yours”?

Do you think that hip hop can be used to work within the American political system, or solely to work outside and against the system as it stands? Do you think that hip hop played any role in making Obama’s election possible?

In hip hop culture’s earliest years, a direct line was drawn between geographic space and empowerment—that is, by “occupying” subway cars, walls, parks, and the airwaves with art, dance, and music that challenged the status quo. Do you feel that this tradition continues today? Is the physical space that Rebel Diaz occupied in the Bronx central to their mission, or can the same goals be accomplished without a physical home base?